Employee motivation system – how to choose? Cafeteria platforms as a way to understand employee needs.


Motivating employees is becoming increasingly difficult. Although bonuses and pay raises are at the top of the list of factors that increase employee engagement, today it is necessary to differentiate the types of benefits. The employer also has many motivation systems to choose from – how to choose them and what to base the decision on?

Financial and non-financial employee motivation

The promise of a raise if the entire team achieves appropriate profits for the company, or a bonus for exceptional work contribution, are still incredibly important motivating factors that should not be overlooked. However, today, employees are approached in a more individual manner, offering them additional non-financial benefits that meet their needs.

What benefits can these be? Enabling child care at a private nursery for a young parent, activating a sports card that provides free access to various sports facilities, or discounts at restaurants.

There are actually many possibilities, it’s just a matter of knowing how to match them to the needs of the company. Mr. Kowalski is a movie buff and will be happy with every free ticket, while Mr. Nowak is a squash enthusiast and renting a court is very expensive. Therefore, the motivation system must always take these needs into account.

So why motivate at all? To increase work engagement, build a bond between the company and its employees – when they identify with the company’s goals, their loyalty will increase. This way, the employer won’t lose valuable employees. Furthermore, an employee who has the opportunity to spend their free time in an attractive way (going to a pub, participating in their favorite fitness activities, or taking a language course) is more efficient in their work and has more interesting, creative ideas. And seeing the employer’s engagement, they are more willing to share their thoughts with him. But how to choose a motivation system when the choice is so wide?

Employee Needs Assessment with a Cafeteria System

More and more employers are aware of the importance of non-monetary benefits, but they don’t know how to choose and manage them. In practice, for example, a company may introduce sports cards (free of charge or for an additional fee), and the employee can only decide whether or not to use them. Is that enough? Unfortunately, not.

As was previously discussed, everyone is motivated by different things at work. That’s why outdated motivational systems no longer work. Today, it is necessary to meet the needs of employees. How to do it?

Cafeteria systems come to the rescue. By purchasing such a service, the employer selects groups of benefits that they want to offer to employees. And the team, individually, selects what interests them the most.

To make such a system more effective, it is necessary to fully use its functionality, i.e. the possibility of generating statistics. Thanks to this, you can check what benefits are highly sought after, and what have not been chosen at all. There is also an option to modify the offer in order to better adapt it to the needs of the team.

A good solution is also to conduct a preliminary survey of employee needs, to know among which benefits to choose. Such a survey can be conducted independently or commissioned as part of outsourcing services.

How to increase employee engagement?

Implementing a modern motivational system is the simplest way to understand the needs of employees and meet them. However, it is important not to forget about other factors that impact engagement.

Few people are aware that attachment to the company can also be influenced by flexible working hours, computer, phone, or car for both business and personal use, the possibility of remote work, or even the organization of parking spaces. Combined with the offering of cafeteria systems, it will provide comprehensive motivation for employees.